Broken connector

Whilst organising my bag for today's run I noticed that it was dribbling. When I examined the bladder there was a slow trickle from the hose connection point. The hose seed a little looser than usual and didn't have an O-ring which I though should be present. I poked around with a screwdriver and recovered a piece of plastic and O-ring from the connector. Basically the end of the male portion of the connector had sheared off.

Should be one piece!

I've not been unreasonably hard on the connection although it was always a bit difficult to get to seat. Last time I'd even oiled it as per the instructions!

Notably the parts are available online and although the webshop suggested that they can be used for an 'upgrade' I'm sure there's wear and tear element in there too.

Image stolen from Ultramarathon Running Store

The part attached to the bladder feels to be pretty firmly inserted so I'm hoping that I can just repair the pipe and use the old connector. I must oil this more often!

End of swimming block

This evening was the 5th and final session of the Goodwin block. As time has gone on I've found the sessions more enjoyable and actually worked harder in them. I'm still hopeless at breaststroke as my legs do not want to go in the right direction. At least that is now clear to me. I've gained a few tips on freestyle and I suspect that when I next try a general swimming session thing will be easier.

We did a 'sprint' length of freestyle and even though I was amongst the slow group I managed 33m in 38 seconds. Ok, I was out of breath, but how come I can't manage a regular 60s per length when I'm going gently. Perhaps, as in running, some fast sections can train for faster slow lengths (if that makes any sense!?). We've also been given a little training plan for freestyle detailing the various drills we've tried. As we're able to borrow the floats at the pool there's no reason not to include the programme, or elements of it, at a general session.

The wednesday circuit is my favourite session at Fairplay so I don't think I'll be doing the next swim block but perhaps I'll try to find a way of interleaving blocks. On my feedback form I mentioned my wish for 1-2-1 coaching so I might hear something about that.

Garmin error on Dore loop

Yesterday evening I ran the Dore moor road loop that's my traditional Tuesday circuit. Before and during my knees felt fine although today the left is a bit delicate around the patellar tendon (again!). I'm going to the physio next week so I wonder if she'll advise more recovery time?

For some unknown reason the first 1.5km didn't record on my GPS so the whole trip pace appears slower than it really was. It was fairly slow though as shown by individual segment times. Anyway, I shouldn't be bothering with that. It's training, not a race, and I've a bit of an injury!

Heart rate was pretty good- less than 140bpm averaged in each 1 km and even looking at the steep ascents it was below 150bpm.

Back to the park

The knees felt OK, but rather than hammer them I went to the park to meet the not-quite-a-club and ran Porter Clough and back - via a few extra hillocks. The ascent time was unremarkable and not as good as I was doing 18 months ago. As I'm 'injured' perhaps that's not surprising. The new segment history tool on Strava is great for showing progress, or lack of it.

The icy weather had made the grass into a forest of silver shards which cracked as you ran over them. There could have been some lovely photos but I was travelling light. (The local Parkrun had been cancelled due to hazardous conditions.)

I was very careful on the steep descents (that means slow) but tried to be speedy and precise on shallow gradient. I also noticed that I was being lazy on ascents and then worked to lift my feet a bit more. It felt better.

Easy 6km on the road

I was undecided whether to run tonight. My knees felt much improved so 'relative rest' made sense. But equally they weren't perfect so should I abstain for another 5 weeks? So many mixed messages. I went for the physio's usual approach of doing less, more slowly and set off to do 6km which is half of my normal Tuesday loop. Also I dressed warmly to encourage a slow speed.

The weather was pretty foul so it was good to be warm although perhaps not necessary when running into a strong headwind. On the final descent I was aware of both patellar tendon and quadriceps insertion discomfort (although very mild) from both knees. My solution was to focus on my gait, lifting my feet more, a good forward lean and feet up behind me. That felt to improve things and I reached home uneventfully.

After rollering and stretching everything felt fine so all's well. There's swimming tomorrow which is non-impact, late working on Thursday so little opportunity for a run, thus there'll be rest for the knees for a couple of days.

Saturday swim

I hadn't swum much in November as the running miles increased but as this was a run rest week it seemed wise to do  second swim. As usual it felt like hard work but I worked at a front quadrant approach and having a tiny glide element. I also used my legs a bit more, mainly to try to stop them from sinking and acting as a brake. During the session I had to move into a 25m section and that is always a lot easier than the full 33.3m as 'breathers' happen more frequently. Conversely at one end there's nothing to push off from so you have to build up speed from a 'splosh'.

The timing was good with a pace under 4min for 100m for the first time in ages. Is this due to the swimming class, a rest week or merely a chance outcome? It might, but hopefully not, be a timing error.

Breaststroke

Last week I was content with missing the swimming class as I understood it to be the breaststroke week. I was wrong. It was backstroke and today was breaststroke. I elected to run with the class and found it hard work. On some occasions I seemed to be moving backwards despite moving my legs. I've come to the conclusion that I will not be able to do the stroke well now as my legs are just too stiff. I cannot put my feet 'like a penguin' and when I make the effort my legs are locked and refuse to fold inwards. The idea of whipping my knees together doesn't sound great either! Compared to all of this freestyle/front crawl seems to need fewer contortions.

I've had reservations about this block of classes and if there's always a week of breaststroke I'd not want to do that again.

On the walk home my legs felt a bit delicate around the knees but it soon settled. My hip flexors were painful for two days!